//------------------------------//
// Chapter 39: Through The Mountain 
// Story: Quest For Equestria 
// by Skyguy626 
//------------------------------//

An hour after liberating Ponyville and freeing the citizens, but there wasn't a sign of Applebloom or her friends.
"Where... Where could they possibly be? Why aren't they here?" a panicking Applejack asked, this could only mean one thing, who ever had ordered the invasion also had taken the CMC.
All of a sudden, Spike let out a huge flame as apparently someone had send them a glass orb the size of basketball. 
"Well, that's never happened before." Twilight said curiously as Skywalker added, "Yeah, that's a new one. Maybe it's from Tia?" he suggested. Suddenly a green flame rose up inside the orb as it spoke up, "A princess? No, but a queen? Yesssss.", The voice sounded familiar, though they couldn't  really place it. As the green flames died down a image of Chrysalis appeared laughing like a maniac.

"Oh, look a random loser who's ass I kicked." Skywalker said, "Hey loser how is it going?" he asked noticing the irritated twitch in her eye, boy did she hate not being taken seriously. "My, my... You didn't have any trouble seeing trough my minions at all, did you, Ser Skywalker?" The image of the Changeling queen said, mockingly complimenting him, "Clever boy. I'm sure you're clever enough to see who's missing from your little... village."
"Where's my sister you... Ill groomed... Swiss cheese... Mule!" Rarity and Applejack demanded to know at the same time, "Temper, Temper, ladies! Tsk, Tsk." the orb told them as the image switch from Chrysalis to the CMC being held hostage inside a pod. "I believe this is what you're looking for?" Chrysalis asked sweetly, but the gang wasn't buying it just yet, "How do we know these are the real ones were looking for?" Big Mac asked. The moment he asked that the CMC started to discuss how they could get there Cutiemarks from being 'fillynapped'.

"That's them..." Big Mac said as the others nodded in agreement. "I have them here... In my kingdom. You may want to come collect them quickly..." Chrysalis told him, making them wonder why. "How about three days? Otherwise something bad might happen to your little friends, Ser Skywalker.", she tried to play to his need of being a hero, good people are so easy to manipulate. "I don't know what you want, Chrysalis." Skywalker started, his normal calm voice dropped a few tones, showing he was serious, "If you are looking for love, I can tell you I don't have any to spare. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for things like you. If you let the Cutie Mark Crusaders go and never threaten Equestria again, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." he told her as the image of Chrysalis faded and the orb now shows a map to where the Cutie Mark Crusaders are being held.
"This is obviously a trap." Skywalker said studying the map, the others couldn't help but agree.
"Why three days?..." Sutakira wondered, suddenly the answer struck Twilight like a meteor, "I know!" she said, gaining the attention of the rest of the gang, "The secretariat Comet! In three days the Secretariat Comet is oassing through the Horse Head Nebula and it's all passing over Equestria. It's the single biggest conjunction in celestial events in over 3,000 years!", she explained. "Huh? You got what in your what now?" Pinkie asked, making Twilight hoofpalm.

"Anyways, anyone up for a trip to the Changeling Kingdom?" Skywalker asked, gaining a approving nod from most of his friend, "An adventure with you Sky? How can I say no?" Rainbow said, ready to back up her best friend. Of course Rarity, Applejack and Big Mac agreed as well.
"I don't know... I've got a lot of animals to feed." Fluttershy said unsure, "Things to do... A bonsai to water...".
"Of course I'm coming..." Pinkie said before turning to the yellow pegasi, "And don't worry, Fluttershy, we can leave gummy in charge of your plant. Or else McGrath can buy you a new one!", McGRath looked offended at this but Fluttershy finely agreed to go with them.
"But we should wait..." Twilight said, trying to be the voice of reason, "We need to do some investigation into what the queen is up to! How is she going to use that magical surge? Why do we need to be there!? We should try and write to the Princess again." she said gaining a groans from the rest of the gang.
"Twily, there are kids kidnapped by what is essentially a succubus! We don't time to ask Celestia what to do!" Skywalker said, trying to make her see thing their way, "We can't just go off without a plan!" Twilight said back as the both started to debate what to do.
"Jason, Twilight?" Fluttershy said, trying to break up their arguing, but Skywalker and Twilight both turned their head towards her and shouted at the same time, "Shut up! Mommy and daddy are talking!".

After a while it was decided that they would be leaving now, trap or no. But it was agreed upon that Spike would stay back to try and get a hold of the princess and tell her where they were.

And so we found our heroes at the edge of the town, looking determent to get those filly's back. "Alright, everybody." Skywalker said, studying the orb which still displayed the map, "This magic orb thing isn't a GPS but it should do the trick. It will take almost three days to get there so we need to get moving.", looking over it one more time, he puts the map in his pocked... Wait how does he do that!?
"Ah yeah! We're off on a quest!" Rainbow did an arm thrust as she said excitedly. "We're always on a quest." McGrath said rolling his eyes and uncrossing his arms. "Yeah, we're the Harmonic Heroes on a quest for Equestria!" Phoenix shouted with a smirk... Roll credits... oh wait.
"Raise your hooves and or hands if you're ready for three exciting days of peril!" Pinkie shouted gaining a puzzling look from ten of her friends, while Skywalker slowly raised his hand. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll see a ninja... or some monkeys... or monkey ninjas." Pinkie continued but she got a groan from her friends, this time all of them.
McGrath rolled his eyes before explaining, "No, Pinkie. If that monkey ninja was worth his bananas, we wouldn't see him!". She nodded at this in agreement, "Oh right. Your so smart McGrath."

And so the gang made their way through the forest, a few hours later they found themselves in an area that according to the orb was called, 'the Macintosh hills'. I'm not even joking about that one.
"Big Mac, so cool he has hills named after him." Griffifth declared as Skywalker was studying the map. "Why is it called the Macintosh hills?" Skywalker asked as his other friends shrug, "No idea. Maybe something with the wind?" Twilight suggested.

"Anyways, we need to go south trough the Appaloosan Mountain range and then on trough the forest of Leota and that should bring up to the gates of the Changeling Kingdom." Skywalker said as trailing the path with his finger, "There's a path carved into the mountains, some old mine system. We'll go in there and we'll be through the mountains in no time!" Twilight added, gaining a approving nod from Skywalker.
"That sounds... dark." Fluttershy complained as Pinkie added, "...And spooky."
Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Through the mountain? Let's just go over it.", she suggested, but Skywalker debunked it, "We can't all fly, Dashie. The fastest way is through the mountain and we've only got three days. So I say we take the fastest route.".

After that, McGrath and Sutakira came out of the bushes, both done taking care of their bladders. 
"You guys aren't done yet?" Griffifth shouted to Phoenix and Big Mac, who both were still taking a leak. "Shut up! I can't pee if everybody is watching!" the voice of Phoenix shouted from a distance, "Also I found out why they call him BIG Macintosh."

After a while they found themselves at the mine entrance, "Alright, let's get this party started!" Pinkie said excitedly as they entered the mine,
"This isn't a party, it's a rescue mission." Griffifth said dryly. Pinkie flashed him a smile as she said, "You know what I mean."
As they made their way further and further down, the gang couldn't help but feel like they were being watched, "I have a bad feeling about this." Big Mac said, and the others couldn't help but agree. "I wonder how long it's been since anyone mined these caves?" Sutakira wondered, Rarity's horn lighted up in a bright blue light before dying down. "The gems look to be long gone... Disappointing, really." she informed them with a sad tone to her voice.
"Well, hopefully that means no one is here and we can just walk on through with no issues." Twilight said, making Phoenix groan, "Saying things like that is just begging for something to happen!".
Suddenly the cave shook by a loud voice shouting, "PO-NAYS!". The gang looked around for the source of the sound, but they didn't notice that the creature was sneaking up behind them. "What in the name of Crush 40 is that thing!?" McGrath shouted as a giant gray ogre like creature loomed over them. "A cave troll! How exciting!" Twilight said gaining yet another groan from the guys, "Exciting?" Sutakira said with a twitching eye, "A rollercoaster ride is exciting, being named a Knight is exciting, trolls are not exciting. Nanda ittai ga anata to machigatte iru, Twilight!?", he snapped, shouting his last line in Japanese while the Cave Troll reached out and grabbed Fluttershy, "PWETAH PONAY!" it shouted as his started to brush Fluttershy's beautiful pink manes, "PWETAH HAR ON DAH PWETAH PONAY!".
"What the neuk is he doing!?" McGrath shouted, "Oh god, its not just a troll... It's a Brony!" Griffifth shouted.

"Hey! Put her down ya'big lug!" Applejack demanded, "Or Skywalker will kicks ya ass!". Skywalker gave her an awed look, "Why do I always have to kick the persons ass?" he asked as the troll noticed him, "YAY! SUPAHMAN!" before he could react, the troll grabbed him and placing both him and Fluttershy at a stone diner table. "YAY! SUPAHMAN AND PWETAH PONAY AWE ON AW DWATE." the troll said happily, even though they were used as toy in this scenario, Fluttershy couldn't help but blush at the 'date' part. 
"Well I don't mind this but..." Skywalker said slowly, "I'm not Clark Kent."

"AWIGHT SHORA." The troll said gaining a loud 'fuck you' from Skywalker. "I got an idea, Rarity, Pinkie follow me!" McGrath said as he dashed to the side.

Meanwhile at Chrysalis Evil Castle of Doom, the queen was observing the heroes through another orb that was linked to the one with the heroes. Using some rocks and robes, McGath, Rarity and Pinkie made some make shift action figures, distracting the troll long enough for then to escape. She had to admit it, they came up with some creative idea's to solve problems.
"Well, that wasn't very exciting, was it Ser Skywalker?" Chrysalis thought to herself, contemplating, "Trolls really are the most idiotic creatures...". I have to agree with that.
"Have we ever tried to get out cutie marks in toy making?" Applebloom asked but Scootaloo scoffed, "That's what you'r getting from that!? We could get our Cutie Marks in troll hunting!", the young pegasi declared, making Chrysalis sigh.
"...Or maybe the second most idiotic creatures..." she thought, before turning her attention back to her orb, "It's time to have fun with you and your friends, little Skywalker. I may just send a few of my minions to join you for a little party."

Back at the heroes, who have made great progress through the caves.
"Moonlight, moonlight, fireflies awake! Make a wish and do a little shake!" Skywalker and Pinkie sang, trying to keep up everybody spirits.
"He wasn't really a bad lumbering beast, was he?" Big Mac said in his kind voice, Fluttershy and Skywalker had to agree with him but Rarity scoffed at this, "He did get bits of stick stuck in your mane and hair. That's beastly thing, if you ask me." she noted, gaining a chuckle from her friends. "I can't wait to add that cave trolls love toys to my reference books. A personal encounter story always adds to the excitement of a research paper." Twilight said excitedly.
Rainbow shook her head at this, "Did she just use the words 'excitement' and 'research' in the same sentence?".
Suddenly, the cave gave another shake, at first it wasn't anything noticeable but it became worse by the second.
"Oh no! Do you think there's another troll?" Fluttershy wonders, quickly looking around for one. "I don't think it's a troll..." Skywalker shouted, indeed, it was a cave in. Before they could react the ceiling above them collapsed, sending large boulders into the ground as a large dust cloud filled the gave, obscuring their view, so no one knew if the others were okay.